Of course, “Raytheon Celebrates Earth Day”. From their
corporate website:
http://www.kvoa.com/news/raytheon-innovates-new-ways-of-going-green/
(The above link provides access to both the video and a
slightly-inaccurate transcript).
“Raytheon innovates new ways of going green”, aired October 13, 2011.
Though not usually associated with armaments suppliers,
greenwashing of corporate activity is nothing new, and I presume that the above
local “news” segment was supposed to make viewers feel all warm and fuzzy about
the merchants of death at Raytheon. (How, though, is beyond my comprehension,
unless the viewers are regarded as complete morons by both Raytheon and KVOA —
which may well be the case).
Depending on one’s point of view, the military-industrial
complex may or may not be a giant sinkhole swallowing desperately-needed
national resources and perverting national priorities, but none of that is even
an issue, all’s right with the world, for they recycle their soft-drink cans
and office supplies! While high-efficiency lighting or solar panels might be of
benefit for logistical reasons within a combat zone, can anyone in their right
mind believe that recycling — or even the grandest of environmental initiatives
— by a defense contractor stateside makes a laudable difference, in the context
of the overall waste of national resources by the military and its suppliers?
“Inane” doesn’t even begin to describe this gushing television segment. The
presentation by KVOA of this greenwashing tripe as newsworthy, with no
reference to broader concerns and not even a trace of irony, must rate as one
of the clearest indicators I’ve ever seen of the journalistic bankruptcy of
local television “news” reporting.
One needn’t be a pacifist to recognize that the American
military-industrial complex now plays a pathological role in the course of
contemporary human events. And in fact I am not a pacifist; I understand that
in our present world, some military capability is necessary. But the true
problems of our nation receive, at best, token attention, while unnecessary and
futile wars drag on year after year, taking an incalculable toll. All but the
blind can see America's basic military readiness harmed, soldiers demoralized,
or worse, made physical or psychological casualties of our insane interminable
wars. All but those suffering from terminal American exceptionalism or denial
should be able to understand the immorality of foreign civilians injured and
killed — and the new enemies thereby created. Technology will not provide a
magic solution; our high-tech semi-robotic instruments of war may reduce U.S.
casualties, but they cannot mask the destruction and hatred created on the
receiving end of our actions. And used or unused, the costs of our war
machines, and indeed, of our entire military, are bankrupting the nation, and
have a massive “opportunity cost” of better things not done.
Perhaps the most under-appreciated damage involves what has
been done to our national ideals and the political process. For decades, both
officeholders and candidates have been afraid to take rational positions with
regard to our military spending, our worldwide military presence, and our
military actions. For politicians, mustn’t be seen as weak or hesitant; for the
human cogs of the war machine tasked with keeping the pipeline of cannon fodder
full, mustn’t be seen as in any way reducing the flow. Washington, D.C., or
Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington State, the result is the same. Even the
term “Defense Department”, for what used to be called, more honestly, the
“Department of War”, hints at the disconnect between our perceptions/actions
and reality. Nearly every military action, even an unjustified, massive
invasion and occupation of a sovereign foreign country, such as the United
States led in Iraq, has been rebranded as “defense” — and since, in the popular
mind, one can never have enough defense, an unending string of wars is
rationalized. Should our present ones show signs of winding down, well, the
chicken-hawks of American politics, the CEOs of our military manufacturers and
mercenary armies, and the visiting foreign heads of state, all are highly
skilled at an improvisational syncopation that will promote new conflict.
In this time of impending sequestration and other budgetary
pressures, the “dog-and-pony” shows of the weapons manufacturers and the armed
services have only just begun. They will cycle through multiple themes. Most
will revolve around fears that will reference past attacks on the United States
— but conveniently ignore that many of the weapons systems being purchased at
extravagant cost are of little relevance to defense against any attacks we are
likely to face, and that bountiful weapons combined with an American psychology
of overreach have played a significant role in creating many of our
international problems. Some will pander to concerns about the jobs that will
be lost if we reduce military spending. (Attention/Achtung! My fellow 19th
century American Southerners/20th century Germans, we must continue slavery/the
concentration camps, lest unemployment rise!). The Pentagon and its
contractors, having over the course of decades masterfully distributed military
bases and manufacturing across so many Congressional districts, are now able to
exploit economic-based fears of cutbacks to enlist the support of Congress
against necessary military cuts. Together they will also leverage the complex
blend of patriotism and justified pride at the historical role of the U.S. in
fighting tyranny during WWII, now exploiting such feelings to imply that a
never-ending worldwide projection of U.S. force in the service of supposed
liberation is desirable — never mind that our actions in Vietnam and Iraq and
Afghanistan did not go according to plan, and future ones may not either. Given
the diversity of themes used to influence political opinion in favor of
irrationally high levels of military spending, perhaps it ultimately is not
surprising that they have thrown in a bit of greenwashing too.
For those with an interest in the ecological opportunity
costs of U.S. militarism, consider this: In an article published in Science magazine in 2001, Stuart Pimm and colleagues
examined the costs of preserving a significant fraction of the world’s
biodiversity. They estimated then that the preservation of twenty-five
biodiversity “hotspots” plus the acquisition of tropical wilderness preserves
could be achieved for a one-time cost of approximately $25 billion for
terrestrial ones, and an additional $2.5 billion for marine reserves. While
species numbers have significant correlations to area (see here,
and here),
and therefore preservation would ideally include more land than the Pimm et al.
proposal, implementation of their proposal would be a good starting point
towards the preservation of biodiversity. Assuming that costs have quadrupled
in the intervening years, such preservation could be achieved at a ONE-TIME
current cost of $110 billion. Current U.S. “defense” spending, stripped of its creative accounting, is
well over six times that figure PER YEAR.
Recommended reading on the topic of military spending and
related politics: anything by Andrew Bacevich.
He can be reached at: FredDrumlevitch12345 (at) gmail.com
Text Copyright Fred Drumlevitch
a question that should really be raised. armaments or mother nature? choose.
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